tardis

Someone on YouTube has smuggled a clip of the new Doctor Who CGI adventure that the BBC will be airing later this year titled "Dreamland". It's still the David Tennant version of the Doctor, so he gets one more go as the character before he becomes Rex.

And it looks... well, frankly, not that good. Oh, the story is great, I'm sure, and Tennant is as spot on as the Doctor as he ever was. It's the CGI. It looks primitive by today's standards. Topless Robot wrote the the style of the clip reminds them of the Reboot CGI cartoon from the 90's, and I have to agree. I recognize the BBC isn't Pixar, and I'm all for Doctor Who in other non-filmed forms, whether it's CGI, primitive animation or just plain old audio adventures. But if it's done, I'd rather it be done better than this.

However, I leave it to you to judge for yourself. What do you think of the clip?

The next Doctor Who special, The Waters of Mars, will be broadcast on BBC America on Saturday December 19th at 9 P.M. For those like myself whose cable company doesn't carry BBC America, we're S.O.L.

Of course, the BBC British broadcast date is November 15th. In that gap, I'm sure even the less technically adept fan in the United States can snag a copy of the show, and fans of the show tend to be more capable when it comes to technology. Not that I'm encouraging such behavior. I'm simply saying that a gap of a month is a LONG time in the digital world. The companies involved would have been better off with a gap of 24 hours. At that point, it's less likely that piracy will occur.

However, for those who are sticklers about this whole "copyright law" thing, you have your opportunity to see the program on December 19th. Hopefully you can wait that long.

(P.S. For those who need more David Tennant as the Doctor before his departure, he's currently appearing on the spin-off show The Sarah Jane Adventures in the U.K.)

Prepare for some spoilers. Don't say I didn't warn you. By the way, Matt Smith is the 11th Doctor (or the 12th, depending on how they spin David Tennant's extraneous regeneration) in case you didn't know.

Actually, it's not that bad. From an article posted on The Doctor Who News Page, it is learned that his new companion, Amy, is a police officer. In a few photos, he also seems to be wearing the remnants of Tennant's outfit. From the description, the Doctor is probably going through some post-regenerative trauma. When has the Doctor ever regenerated without trauma? Never, I think.

I know they film out of order, but it feels odd to know already what his outfit is going to look like. Here is one other possible minor spoiler: in the scenes filmed, the Sonic Screwdriver gets destroyed (and Matt Smith was slightly injured in the process). Between Matt Smith's age and that plot device, it's like Steven Moffat is trying to copy the Peter Davison era.

Every once in a while, the British television show Doctor Who is revamped. This is usually done by replacing the lead actor and his supporting crew. However, it is also done by changing the logo of the series. As a result, certain logos are associated with certain eras. Yesterday, the BBC has revealed on their website the logo to be associated with the Matt Smith era of the show. They also have a video of the historical logos of the show.

I don't have a particular favorite logo, although I liked both the "diamond" logo of the 70's, most closely associated with Tom Baker's era, and the "neon" logo of the 80's, which spanned three Doctors (Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker). The current one isn't bad either with the cylinder thing with pointy ends (what is that shape called?).

A video preview of thenew logo is available on certain sites such as Topless Robot. What do you think of it? Which logo has been your favorite?

Filming is underway for season five (called series five in the U.K.) of the adventures of everyone's favorite Time Lord, Doctor Who, and naturally, a few secrets of the next season have already been leaked.

For the benefit of those who don't wish to be spoiled, the goodies will be revealed after the jump. The rest of you can go about your business.

In a victory for nerdy Brit-philes everywhere, BBC America has announced the acquisition of U.S. broadcast rights for the fifth season of Doctor Who starring the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith. This is on the tail of announcing record ratings for the American broadcast of the Doctor Who episode Planet of the Dead and the mini-series Torchwood: Children of Earth.

This is all the more reason to curse my cable company for not actually carrying BBC America and having to resort to other means to watch one of my favorite programs of all time. You know when a network tells you to call your cable company to carry your favorite stations? I will personally testify in a court of law that it accomplishes jack squat.

There are no other television stations that could correctly carry Doctor Who in the states. SyFy? Oh please. Their first run with the series was lukewarm at best. The Doctor is home, and I look forward to catching his new adventures however I can.

Get your scarves out. Tom Baker is returning to the lead in Doctor Who after 30 years of pretty much abandoning the role (playing it again only for a fraction of a second in the 1993 Children In Need special). He'll be starring in a set of BBC audio plays along with Richard Franklin, who will return alongside the fourth Doctor as Captain Mike Yates, one of the Doctor's companions from that era.

This is big news. Until David Tennant, Baker was synonymous with the role yet absolutely refused to do any performances related to it. Big Finish has been doing Doctor Who audio dramas for a decade with four of the other actors who played the part, yet the company was never able to snag Tom Baker for one.

I'm certain going to seek out this audio. Hopefully this is only the beginning of more Doctor Who audio plays starring Mr. Baker. He has been sorely missed.

The new Doctor Who, Matt Smith, and gal pal Anna Pond (Karen Gillan) seem to be stranded on a beach in more new set photos and a video of the series' first day of shooting. (Fans will notice the Doctor is holding a brand new sonic screwdriver.)

I'm really looking forward to the Doctor's return (or the new Doctor's arrival, however you wish to look at it) in 2010. The first two brilliant hours of Torchwood: Children of Earth have me wanting to dive back into the rich sci-fi world created by Russell T. Davies.

The new actor to play the lead role on Doctor Who, Matt Smith, has begun filming his first episodes. Thus, the paparazzi were able to snap some photos of his outfit. Despite being the youngest actor to play the role, he's dressed like the oldest. It's something of a full-color version of Patrick Troughton's outfit from the 1960's. Perhaps it's a hipster thing.

It's been suggested online that he's going for a science teacher look, and that would actually be pretty retro of the show (which was originally intended to teach children about science and history, although I'm not sure how meeting cavemen followed by Daleks teaches either).

Mr. Smith has pretty big shoes to fill, particularly considering that by the time he was considered of age to watch the show, it was off the air. Still, Steven Moffat is now the showrunner, so I'm confident that despite the loss of David Tennant and however the Doctor looks, it will still be among the best shows on television.

The good Doctor is going home...sort of. BBC America has acquired first-run American rights for this year's Doctor Who specials. David Tennant's final episodes will appear on BBCA and not on Sy Fy.

This makes perfect sense, of course. Despite having science-fiction trappings, Doctor Who is, at its core, a British show. BBCA also runs other Brit science-fiction programs like Torchwood and Primeval (which runs on BBC rival ITV, but is still British), so having Doctor Who on it is a no-brainer.

With the Sci Fi Channel's "reimagining" to Sy Fy, I can even see why it would pass on the show this year and probably future years. No doubt Sy Fy wants to own future programming and not broadcast someone else's stuff (particularly something that could be perceived as the competition).

In short, it's another reason to call your cable company and request BBC America if you don't already have it. Believe me, I've tried.

It's not enough to have a cameo appearance on Tonight's The Night. Now, David Tennant is once again reprising his role as everyone's favorite Time Lord in two episodes of the spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.

I can tell he already misses the role. When they do some sort of multiple Doctors story in a future Doctor Who, I'm sure with a minimum of coaxing (perhaps for a bag of crisps) he could be convinced to play the role again.

The third season of the series will broadcast in September, which would occur before the broadcast of Tennant's final bow and would well fit into the continuity of the series (loose as that continuity is).

As far as I'm concerned, Tennant is (to borrow a phrase from his predecessor) fantastic and couldn't appear as the Doctor enough times. I think he should have remained in the role for another couple of years, but that's just me.

John Barrowman isn't just Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who and Torchwood. He also is a variety show host for a BBC series called Tonight's The Night which allows contestants to live out their performance dreams. Using his association with the former, he actually gave a contestant on the latter the chance to live out his dream of appearing on Doctor Who.

It's a cute scene which obviously doesn't fit into any sort of show continuity (or as much continuity as Doctor Who can have). David Tennant himself makes a special appearance in the episode and steals the show. Watching Tennant's brief cameo in this show, I'm even more convinced that Matt Smith has big shoes to fill when he eventually takes over the role.

On the other hand, if your dream is to appear on an episode of Doctor Who, why would you allow your face to be covered by a blue mask? Watch the video after the jump.

This piece of news is from The Sun newspaper in England, so as always when I relay information from that particular source, take it with a grain of salt. With that in mind, The Sun is reporting that ex-Bond Timothy Dalton is in talks to appear as a villain in one or more of David Tennant's remaining Doctor Who specials.

While obviously Dalton would not play the main villain of the piece (that role has already been cast by a returning arch-nemesis), he's exactly the sort that Russell T. Davies would have play an evil businessman. I suspect that is the plan.

I'd be more impressed with they had gotten Roger Moore or Sean Connery to play a role in Who, but I think that would be pushing it.

For you Dalton fans (and I just loved him in the 80's Flash Gordon movie), it's just one more reason to tune in to the specials when they are broadcast later this year. Damn you, Sci Fi and/or BBCA for not broadcasting these specials in the U.S.!

Having recently read an article about the subject, I had to ask myself: why can't Doctor Who have an American version of the same show? If Life on Mars can be ported over (albeit unsuccessfully), why not bring over an Americanized Doctor?

Granted, the show couldn't use a police box (a definitively British icon) for the TARDIS. So? Use a phone booth. Also, if the show simply started from scratch, it wouldn't have 46 years of continuity to bog it down. No need to pay the estate of Terry Nation for use of the Daleks. Simply use the Doctor, the TARDIS, and whatever alien menaces the creators' imagination provides.

(Granted, there was a Doctor Who movie with American involvement in 1996 starring the British Paul McGann, which I personally didn't think was bad but others disagree with me.)

With this in mind, I have composed a list of the ten American actors (and by American, I include all of North America, so some Canadians will make the list) whom I feel could at least adequately play the Doctor in an Americanized version of the show.

Back in the good old days of Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, one of the enemies of our intrepid hero came in the form of a Time Lady known as the Rani. Unlike the Doctor's other nemesis from his own race, the Master, the Rani didn't have a personal grudge against our hero and simply preferred to perform immoral experiments on those she deemed as lesser species in her quest for knowledge.

Who might be playing the Rani in the new series? That's after the jump.